It sure didn’t take long for Warren Buffett to be able to breathe a billion-dollar sigh of relief.

Brackets went ballistic during the initial wave of NCAA Tournament games Thursday, and by Friday night there was nary a single bracket left standing.

Not that anyone really stood a chance of capitalizing on Buffett’s attention-grabbing gamble and prevailing against one-in-quintillion odds, but it sure didn’t keep us from trying, did it?

Eager participants filled out 15 million brackets, all of which were cast to the shredder courtesy of Mercer, Harvard and Stephen F. Austin.

But that’s why we call it “March Madness,” and that’s precisely why it’s one of the most captivating sporting events in the world.

Having the good fortune to witness N.C. State’s miracle run to the national title in 1983 changed my entire perspective on the NCAA Tournament. The Wolfpack were the first team with 10 losses to run the table, and each of their stunning victories brought more followers into their fold.

By all rights, N.C. State should have been eliminated in the first round by Pepperdine that year but inexplicably prevailed in double-overtime. Then, with each successive upset that followed, the impossible was suddenly plausible and the unexpected suddenly anticipated.

Prior to the Wolfpack facing uber-talented Houston – a team that included three first-round NBA draft picks – national columnist Dave Kindred famously predicted that “trees will tap dance, elephants will drive in the Indianapolis 500 and Orson Welles will skip breakfast, lunch and dinner before N.C. State figures out a way to beat Houston.”

The next day, after the Wolfpack had dunked Houston 54-52, columnist Joe Tiede of Raleigh’s News & Observer crafted what remains my favorite lead to a game story: “Elephants, start your engines.”

From whatever cup of good fortune the Wolfpack happened to sup that year, they must’ve passed it around.

The next year, Villanova steamed to the title as a No. 10 seed. In 1986, 14th-seeded Cleveland State stunned Indiana and advanced to the Sweet 16.

Many other memorable tournament runs have followed seemingly on an annual basis since, with unheralded teams such as George Mason, Valparaiso, Wyoming, Butler and Florida Gulf Coast waving the underdog banner high and proud and capturing the imagination of the nation.

Many of us relate to underdogs, so we pull for them when tournament time rolls around.

Sure, there are those unspeakable persons among us who shamelessly hop aboard whatever bandwagon seems most convenient at the time, but there seems to be a growing contingent that favors the unfavored, regardless of the name scripted across the front of the jersey.

And that sure does make March fun.

Imagine how boring it would be if we just penciled in a Final Four of Duke, North Carolina, Kansas and Kentucky every year.

Ho hum, thanks for tuning in.

And glad you and your bench full of McDonald’s All-Americans could see fit to dispose of a lineup of lowly lower seeds en route to your presumed destination.

Fortunately, it seems that more of the haves are falling victim to the have-nots in recent years.

Thank you, Mercer and Dayton and Stephen F. Austin. I appreciate what you’ve done, even if my bracket doesn't.

At last glance, my bracket had more red marks than a fifth-grade book report.

My wife picked her bracket based on the teams with the prettiest uniform colors; my mother selected hers based on mascot appeal. Seriously.

So quite predictably, both of their brackets are light years ahead of mine, which serves as yet another reminder that it’s a good thing I don't make enough money to gamble.

To Buffett’s credit, he apparently wanted someone to win his money. Or at least give him a run for it.

To that end, he has expressed a desire to “modify” the contest to afford folks a better chance of winning.

So we’ve got that going for us next year.

If I come up empty in the Publishers Clearing House again, I’m certainly going to make a concerted effort to win the bracket challenge a year hence.

I’m going to prioritize my picking, re-think my strategy and invest hours in conducting investigative and analytical research on every team in the field so I’m better equipped to make sound, sensible decisions.

Then again, I sure do like those colors on the Wisconsin-Green Bay uniforms.